There Goes The Little Man

Alan Jackson has a song about "The Little Man." The mom and pop stores and independents that are taken over by corporate conglomerates. Money talks. It happens.

It's sad, but it happens.

But this is ridiculous.

Two boys in Salem, Massachusetts operated a lemonade stand in the town Square to make a little money for themselves. They are, after all, kids. Kids who know that Salem is a popular tourist spot during the summer months.

Crowds + hot summer weather + icy cold lemonade = $$$

Smart, right?

A sausage vendor who also sells lemonade at his sausage stand in the same area complained to authorities because the kids were hurting his sales and stealing his customers. They don't have a vendor's license, he wrote in his complaint.

Are you kidding me? No, dear readers, I'm afraid I'm not.

So the local authorities acted on his complaint and shut the boys down. I wonder if the person who made this decision, to close a child's lemonade stand, had kids of his own. And one day he would have to tell them that instead of wanting to be productive and starting on their college funds a little early, they can't because they need a license, and unfortunately, also too young to apply for said license.

Once word got out that the Sausage Guy closed the kids down, no one wanted to buy from him anymore.

Sausage Guy - Lemonade stand + Local news media = NO business for Sausage Guy

So the Sausage Guy, seeing how his business was suffering, called the boys and asked for a merger. What if, he asked, we combine our stands. You can sell your lemonade and I can sell my sausages together. And I'll let you work under my vendor license.

Greedy Sausage Guy + Innocent lemonade stand = satisfied customers.

Long live the Little Man.